Or So It Seems
by Kamiko Kiyo
Summary: Reverse AU. Pines Twins centric and how they came to be. We aren't born "evil." We don't even necessarily choose it. Sometimes, it just happens. He had never had such a physically aversive reaction to the word "love" before in his life. And he had only been seven years old at the time. Warning: Dark themes.
1. Love

He had never had such a physically aversive reaction to the word "love" before in his life. And he had only been seven years old at the time.

Looking back, his family wasn't the picture of perfection. Their father had to stay and work late hours, their mother was a bit over controlling, raising hell when someone so much as tracked a little dirt into the house, and their extended family was estranged at best on their father's side.

That didn't mean that their life wasn't good though. He had his sister and she had him. They were never without a playmate, never without someone who didn't understand them and never without someone who would share their pain. They were far from the same, however. He was standoffish and cautious but mellow. She was social and energetic but thoughtful. Their family wasn't perfect and he'd never thought they'd needed to be.

But their father always put forth the effort to make up for lost time, doing special projects with them like making their beloved tree house or taking off whole days from work just to take them to the zoo or the movies (something that he knew was difficult due to an overheard phone call his father had gotten from his boss). And their mother, despite keeping the house like a military base, would make even daily occurrences just a little more special than she needed to. Sometimes it would come in the form of a cupcake in their lunches and other times, in a rare act of spontaneity, she might bring them to Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree even though she loathed the greasy food and annoying animatronics.

That was why it was nothing too out of the ordinary when their mother had done just that, taking them there for dinner after a day at the amusement park and the local science museum. She'd spared no expense either. When she'd usually limit what they could buy to twenty dollars each, on that day she'd given them whatever they had asked for, no matter how many artificial sweeteners or messy amounts of glitter came with what they wanted.

They'd both been a little perplexed. But of course, his sister brushed it off more easily than he did. To her credit, it made sense. Wouldn't anyone cherish their children twice as much only a month after their husband had died abruptly?

So they'd played along. They'd pretended that they didn't notice the occasional forced smiles or the far away, glassy expression their mother had when she thought they weren't looking. Their mother had needed them the most at that time even though they themselves had hardly even begun to properly grieve the loss.

It was that love, trust and care that they'd given to her which made the day so much more devastating when it ended.

When he'd opened his eyes, the sun had long since set and the menagerie of colors in the sky that looked like a scene from his sister's coloring book had darkened to pure black. Only the passing lights of other cars illuminated the interior of their own in short intervals. He shivered a bit, noting the car windows were open. Despite the recent weather, it had been very warm that day. He bet his dad would've brought them out for a drive in the convertible. His mother didn't like it very much when her hair whipped everywhere though.

A glance around the car revealed what a mess they'd made as dirt, wrappers and toys were strewn everywhere. The powdery sugar dust was the easiest to see and had been the first item to defile the usually immaculate car floor that day. His sister had panicked upon spilling it and tried her best to clean it up before his mother had noticed and waved away the whole situation.

"I'm getting the car cleaned soon anyway. Don't worry about it, honey," she had said earlier that day.

Feeling a weight on his shoulder, he glanced over blearily to see that his sister was fast asleep, likely in a pizza and sugar coma with how much of the stuff she had eaten. His loud yawn was met with a soft but audible inhale from the front of the car where his mother was driving and he strained his eyes to see the time on bright blue clock.

He blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. They'd been sleeping and his mother had been driving for more than an hour since they'd left. It was even past the twins' usual bedtime.

"Mom? Where are we going?" Was she really intending on bringing them on another trip to somewhere so late? He and his sister would follow through and were all for having fun as a family, but they were exhausted. Hopefully after this, his mother would know when to quit.

"… We're going home, sweetie." Her soft voice responded after a pause.

"Did you get lost again?" He asked with a slight whine. On past road trips their mother just never wanted to ask for help, insisting she could read the map just fine.

"Ha ha. I guess I did." Her laugh was half-hearted before silence settled over the car again. "Go back to sleep. We'll be there soon," she told him after a moment.

"Okay." He paused. "I had a lot of fun today, mom. We both did." One would have to be blind not to see that his sister had been having the time of her life.

"I'm so glad to hear that."

"Did _you_ have fun?" He broached the subject that they'd avoided all day. He had hoped she felt better, recalling the sound of her crying last night when he'd gotten up for a glass of water. He had gone back to bed thirsty.

She had once explained to them that making them happy was her way of showing she loved them and that it made her happy to show her love. He supposed this was his roundabout way of telling her that she'd succeeded in showing her love and that he wanted her to be happy now.

"I _did_ have fun." There was no pause this time. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Maybe tomorrow we'll have pancakes for breakfast. How does that sound?"

Though he couldn't even begin to think about food again and his stomach whined quietly, he nodded with a smile. "Yeah!" he affirmed louder than he'd meant to.

"Sh! You'll wake your sister," she told him despite quietly giggling to herself.

He then covered his mouth and whispered to his sleeping sibling. "Sorry." He then laid back tiredly, shutting his eyes to fall back asleep as he'd been told.

"And ***." His mother said his name after a few minutes. His eyes fluttered open and her voice was so soft that he almost couldn't hear her. He opened his mouth to speak, but she didn't even wait for his reply.

"I love you and your sister. So very much."

Not even the icy water had chilled him as much as those last words.

…

The quiet after the water had rushed into the car was surreal. He'd barely had time to take a breath before the air was gone despite his panicky inhalations. His oblivious sleeping sister was not so lucky.

There was nothing wrong with his seat belt, but in the panic of the moment it took much more trial and error than he liked to unstrap himself from the seat. He needed air. He needed warmth. The water, though completely thawed of ice, was frigid and it felt like icy spikes were shooting into his skin.

But his instinct to flee was halted the moment he saw two blurs of brown floating in his sight. One to the left and one to the right. His mother and sister were drowning. One struggled fiercely, fighting for freedom in confusion while the other merely twitched and spasmed from the discomfort of water filling her lungs.

He spotted bubbles escaping from the both of them and ignored his own burning lungs to reach over and free his twin whose flailing was growing weaker by the second. By the time he had gotten her out of the seat belt and they floated to the top of the car, she was limp. Time slowed in his mind as he began to push them both through the open window, wincing as something sharp sliced across his forearm.

Once his sister was out and he was close behind, he glanced back at the mass of wavy brunette hair covering his mother's face. He hesitated for only a second before pushing himself all the way out of the window and rose through the water, keeping his injured arm on his sister at all times as his good one swam.

When they broke to the surface, they both coughed and hacked, gulping the life-saving air. Despite his tries, some water had still made it into his mouth. The cold dampness covering his body practically paralyzed him, but somehow he managed to drag them to the shore.

He was hardly conscious by then. He saw flashing lights and felt someone pull him and his sister up (as he didn't release his shivering grip on her even then) before it all faded away and one last thought lingered in his semi-conscious mind.

 _"I love you and your sister. So very much."_

 _Liar._

* * *

Author's Note: My second GF story. Before I've even updated my first. Yay for short attention spans!

I'm actually pretty new to the Reverse AU and I wasn't really interested until I saw some awesome fanart. But I also love trying to figure out how psychotic characters spiral down into what they become so I thought I'd give it a shot. Expect this to be more of a string of snapshots than a completely flowing story, though it's still all related and such, meant to explain how the Pines twins became so different from what we see on the show.

Reviews are all encouraged and loved equally, so please let me know what you think!


	2. Trust

"Dipper!"

He didn't even look up at his sister's outraged cry, keeping his head down and his eyes trained on the source of light clattering in the room.

"Hm?"

"You promised you were looking. I'm never gonna get a bull's-eye again," Mabel whined as she pulled the dart out of the board.

"Yes, you will. You just have to practice." Just as he said that, there was a light _click_ and a triumphant smile spread across his face. "Like me." He displayed the open padlock hooked over his finger proudly. There was no key in sight.

Mabel blinked. "You're getting faster." She remembered when it used to take him hours just to get it open.

"That's the idea." He clicked the padlock shut, stuffing it into his pocket. "And how? Practice. It makes perfect."

"How am I supposed to practice if no one ever plays with me?" she asked with a pout.

"I'd play if you didn't always complain." He crossed his arms.

His twin gave him a look. "When it takes you five minutes just to aim it?"

"I'm calculating the trajectory," he mumbled, hiding his embarrassment as best he could. "Anyway, it's not like you need someone to play with to throw darts. And it's not like anyone would want…"

The frown on her face made Dipper regret his words. Even if he hadn't meant to, he knew he'd inadvertently reminded her of why she had no one to play with aside from him.

"Maybe Cassy woul-"

"We've been over why that isn't a good idea," he told her sharply. Their first impression on the orphanage had not been good. Upon recently losing their family, neither had been in a very stable emotional state.

Their first day, they had been sent to the playground to try and socialize with the other children. They had clung to one another and been wary of the others, but then had been invited to play baseball with a small group (likely at the prodding of the caretakers). Dipper had suggested they play, but Mabel hadn't been ready to be around others. The brother had been more than willing to stay behind with her, but she'd insisted that he go and make some friends. Telling him that she just needed some time alone, he had gone reluctantly, but now wished he'd never left.

While he was playing, Mabel was a prime target for a slightly older girl, Cassy, who they now knew took glee in pushing other's buttons. At the time, Mabel had gone nearly mute except when it came to Dipper and her lack of response had made Cassy see that as a challenge. It hadn't taken her long to find out that their parents were Mabel's weakness, but she hadn't been expecting the ensuing punch straight to her face.

It had been chaos. Mabel and Cassy's fight had drawn the whole playground's attention and some friend of Cassy had started to pull Mabel's hair to get her off. Dipper had immediately jumped in and the fighting only got worse before the staff had broken it up.

In the end, Cassy, with a bleeding nose and tears, had claimed that Mabel had attacked her due to a simple question about Mabel's parents. Of course, she omitted the fact that she'd snidely stated more than asked whether Mabel had been orphaned because her parents didn't even want her.

Dipper had been furious when he'd found out what Cassy had said. Because that was exactly what he had been trying to convince Mabel of that wasn't true after she'd found out that their mother had willing plunged the car into the water with herself and the both of them inside.

But Cassy had been there long enough to build an innocent façade for herself and the twins were the new kids with nothing but their good word and the blood of the other children on their hands. Even behaving as well as they had been since the incident hadn't changed the minds of the caretakers and, whether by their own volition after the fight or Cassy's influence, none of the other children came near them other than to taunt or sneer at them. At least they'd been able to keep each other in check to prevent a repeat of that incident since.

"I could say I'm sorry-" Mabel tried again to convince Dipper as if she couldn't make the decision without his approval.

"Just like you did a million times before. She's not gonna care." He'd be the first to make peace if he knew it would work and he didn't want to see his sister hurt again.

"… I know." Mabel sighed.

Unconsciously rubbing his hand over his forearm where his new scar was, Dipper spoke.

"Wanna go outside then? I think they got some new chalk."

Mabel gave him a weak smile. "That sounds fun."

…

They did it on purpose. They both knew they did. Whenever it came to projects that they insisted the children do, the workers always made sure the twins were in separate groups. They didn't want the two trouble makers together and thought that it would keep the peace. In reality, it only made the twins more anxious when they were away from their sibling. It was stupid as the most trouble that they had caused since their first day was when someone almost called Dipper by his given name and he ended up spitting at them that his name was Dipper.

"What about a zoo?"

"I've seen those everywhere though."

"We could have unicorn."

"Or maybe a dragon!"

Mabel sat uncomfortably on the side as the children in her group brainstormed ideas. They were supposed to come up with a picture for a mural that was to be painted on the side of the orphanage building and the best submission would be chosen for it. She glanced over at where Dipper stood, noting he was just as disinterested and awkward as her, though he didn't seem to care about the latter. Even with his hands still in his pocket, she knew that he was probably playing with the padlock, trying to lock and unlock it with one hand. Without a key, of course.

When he glanced up and caught her gaze, he smiled briefly as if to tell her that it would be over eventually and they could then go off with one another. It wasn't as if anyone cared where they were as long as they weren't causing trouble.

Returning the smile, Mabel inspected the pieces of paper and drawing utensils that covered the table and saw the designs that everyone was thinking of. There was one element in the design that seemed agreed upon, however.

"M-Maybe we could make the sun… blue," Mabel suggested. All eyes were on her as if she were some exotic creature that they'd never seen before. "L-Like just to make it different?"

Cassy was the first to show a look of disapproval. "Suns are supposed to be red, orange or yellow. No one's gonna know what a giant blue dot in the sky is." There was a chorus of agreements and ridicule for the idea before they all went back to their drawings.

At least they didn't call her stupid for thinking of it. Mabel then noticed a caretaker walking by who gave her a tight smile, but the eyes said it all. _Behave. Or else._

Sighing, Mabel grabbed a blank sheet of paper and started to doodle, pretending to listen to the rest of the group and work on the mural idea to kill time. She didn't care so much about the mural as she wanted to try and mend things between her and Cassy.

Mabel wasn't sorry for what she did. Cassy had deserved it. But that didn't mean that they couldn't forgive each other and move on.

Everyone deserved a second chance.

…

"Do you think we did okay?"

All she received was a shrug. "It's a consultation, not a contest." At her slightly perplexed expression, he reiterated. "They just wanted to meet us to see if we'd make a good "match" to be their kids."

Dipper hadn't been nearly as nervous as Mabel when a caretaker had come to get them for a meeting with a possible adopting couple. They were people, not dogs, so if they didn't like who the twins were then he wanted nothing to do with them.

Mabel, on the other hand, was eager to please. It wasn't that she wanted a replacement for their parents (far from it), but the orphanage was cold and their first day hadn't helped. It wouldn't be easy to adjust, but even he had to agree that a real, permanent home would be better than this.

Despite her clear agitation before and after, she'd done a much better job at winning over the couple than he had. While she had babbled through their conversation enthusiastically, soaking up the attention and interest that no one at the orphanage would give her, Dipper had been his usual reserved self, only really talking when prompted by the couple or Mabel. They'd divulged their interests and politely asked the couple about themselves as well.

Dipper was on the fence, but had put forth some effort to appear engaged for Mabel's sake and because of the caretaker's parting words.

"Now be yourself, but also do your best to make a good impression. Finding couples that are willing to adopt more than one child are hard to come by and this one has been coming by and thinking over their decision for months."

It brought forth a very real possibility that he hadn't considered before. They were still young, but if placing them somewhere took too long, what was to stop them from splitting the twins up? After what their mother had done, Dipper had prepared and accepted to deal with a lot. Losing his sister wouldn't be one of them, he decided.

"I-I know, but I accidentally kicked the man's leg under the table. And I had a hard time understanding their accent. And they could have been saying they didn't like us when they spoke in French-"

"German," Dipper lightly corrected her.

"Oh my god. That's why they kept laughing when I kept saying 'oui'!" Mabel ran her hand through her hair, replaying every moment of their time with the couple, growing more nervous as she did.

At Mabel's expression of uncertainty, Dipper sighed and rubbed his forearm before pulling her in for a hug. "Calm down. You did great, sis. Someone would have to be blind and stupid not to love you."

She didn't realize she was trembling until she was pressed against her brother who was solid as a rock. Calm, logical, and there for her, like always. Mabel wrapped her arms around his middle as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I don't want to stay here." No one liked or talked with her and for a social butterfly like Mabel that was suffocating. Without Dipper there, she might have even stopped trying.

"We won't have to, even if it doesn't work out with that couple. One way or another, we'll leave," he promised.

With only a moment of hesitation, she nodded. If Dipper said so, then Mabel would believe it.

…

"Hey. What's that?"

Mabel's head snapped up at the sound of the voice. She did her best not to appear nonchalant even though she wanted nothing more than to be left alone again.

"Uh, my uh… nothing really." Mabel tried to hide the paper under her arms and hunched over form. She wished Dipper was there. Unfortunately, the twins couldn't always be together. The worst of it was at school where they had a single class together and didn't share their lunch period. Mabel's only solace was that she could usually stay in the cafeteria until recess ended. The lunch staff didn't mind, though they did show concern that she didn't go outside.

Watching everyone playing together and knowing she would be rejected was just too much for her. The boys didn't want to play any of the girls and word had gotten around about her fight with Cassy so none of the girls wanted to be around her either.

It didn't take a genius to know that the person who'd told everyone was the person currently trying to look over her shoulder.

"No, what is it?" Cassy asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Mabel blinked and, despite her reservations, had to look directly at the older girl just to make sure that Mabel hadn't mistaken someone else for Cassy. Or that Cassy hadn't mistaken Mabel for someone else.

When their eye contact didn't produce a look of disgust or a cruel smirk on Cassy's face, Mabel turned her head down and answered quietly. "Well, I… I just started drawing this… while we worked on the mural."

When she glanced back, Cassy had taken a seat next to Mabel and was looking at the picture.

"I liked it so I started to color it in." It was practically done by now and Mabel had only been working on cleaning up the lines.

"This… this is pretty good." Cassy sounded as astonished as Mabel felt over the fact that Cassy was saying something nice to her.

"N-No. No, it's not." Mabel began to grow warm from nervousness and embarrassment. She was having mixed feelings about this seemingly casual conversation with the girl. It was like talking to a different person. She knew Dipper would be totally suspicious and tell Mabel that she should ignore Cassy, but Dipper never trusted anyone and didn't care one way or another what people thought. What if Cassy was finally trying to be friends with Mabel and move on?

"What do you mean? It looks awesome!"

"It has a blue sun," Mabel muttered bitterly, tears welling in the back of her eyes at the memory of how her idea was shot down.

Cassy paused and seemed to realize what Mabel was thinking. She looked around the empty lunchroom awkwardly.

"Hey, I'm… I'm sorry. But it's not like I was the only one who didn't like that part." Cassy frowned apologetically. "But seriously. The rest is amazing and I think the blue sun isn't so bad when I can see the whole picture."

The blonde smiled at Mabel hopefully as the younger girl sniffled, wiping at her face before her tears could fall. "Thanks." The compliment didn't feel as great as Mabel would have thought it would be.

"Look, they… my friends don't… they don't like you after what happened. I was mad at first, yeah, but I know I was wrong and wanted to make up. But they just kept telling me how annoying you are and stuff. I don't think that, but… it's hard to bring up when I know they feel the same way I do." Cassy rested her face in her hands before glancing at Mabel. "I forgave you right away and I want to be friends," she admitted.

Mabel stared, blinking as tears started to run down her face. Embarrassed, she quickly sniffled and wiped them away before giving Cassy a timid smile. "I want to be friends too. And I'm sorry for hitting you." Cassy had still deserved, but maybe now she deserved it a little less. Mabel didn't know what she would do if she'd been in Cassy's position.

"Thanks." Cassy said with a smile and looked down at the picture. "You're really talented. Do you draw a lot?"

"Kind of." Mabel let the silently mutual distraction of the drawing capture their attention. Dipper wouldn't like it, but Mabel had a good feeling about this. Even if the couple didn't work out, she could apologize again with Cassy in front of her friends and show that they had made up. The orphanage wouldn't be so bad until they were adopted.

"The colors here are so cool. How did you get them like this?"

"Oh, that's pretty easy actually. You just have to…"

They spent the entire recess talking and met up in the empty lunchroom again and again that week, drawing and talking. They always waited until everyone was gone though. Cassy just wasn't ready to re-introduce Mabel as her friend yet. Besides, the better she got to know Mabel, the better she could convince everyone.

Mabel didn't mind. She was still working up a way to tell Dipper about their secret friendship. A secret friend was better than no friend in her opinion. Like always, Mabel trusted that everything would work itself out. How could it not with the incredible turnaround?

For the first time in what felt like forever Mabel was finally happy and she owed it all to Cassy.

…

"Ow!" Mabel felt something hit the back of her head and glanced around, but didn't have any clue as to who had thrown the paper wad at her.

It was probably just some stupid boys. A glance up confirmed her suspicion that the teacher didn't notice. The woman never did, so caught up in her lectures though it wasn't like she would really believe Mabel. Unfortunately, the word of her fight with Cassy had even spread to the staff. She'd seen how the teachers looked at her, keeping a special close eye on her and Dipper.

It didn't feel fair that one incident had ruined their reputations everywhere. It wasn't like adults never made mistakes either, but they acted like kids were only good if they kept their head down and did what they were told. It was too bad that was just the way things were.

Mabel was about to throw the wad away when she noticed writing on the page. She began to uncurl the paper, frowning. Had the wads always had writing on them-?

"Mrs. R! Mabel's passing notes!" Mabel's head snapped up with a gasp and she met the woman's stern gaze, nearly whimpering. She could tell what that look meant. Why else would Mabel have a crumpled up piece of paper in her hands?

Still, she tried to explain. "S-Someone threw it at me-"

"Mabel." The teacher pointed at the door with a frown. "You can wait outside for me while I finish this lesson." It was an order.

Swallowing thickly, Mabel got up and dragged her feet out of the classroom, the back of her eyes burning as she heard the giggles and "ooh"'s behind her. The fact that they relished her pain hurt even worse. She walked faster, determined to at least cry in peace.

Once she was in the hall, she took a shaky calming breath and sniffed. She hoped no one told the caretakers and that she'd just get off with a stern talking to or a warning. Only when she clenched her hands into fists did she realize she still had the paper ball in her hand. Mabel should have just thrown it on the floor. Then again, someone might have told on her for that too. It was what got her in trouble so she might as well check it out before the teacher came into the hall.

Insults and crude drawings on the wrinkled page didn't surprise her. However, one stood out.

It was clearly drawn with little care, making her mouth too large, her nose too long and she'd seen stick figures more accurate, but what got her was the scene and the caption. She was wearing a crown and sitting on a unicorn and at the top it said "the ugliest unicorn princess."

Her hands began to shake. She never talked to anyone, wore a plain brown backpack and only ever did her work in her classes at school. So how did someone know about one of her favorite dreams which she'd had almost a year ago?

The answer that came to Mabel made her let out a sob and she shook her head. In her emotional state logic went out the window and without thinking she ran for the bathroom. She needed to be alone.

She needed Sweater Town.

…

Mabel looked at her eyes in the mirror, satisfied that the red was gone. Before she had gotten through her episode she had been found in the bathroom. They'd assumed she'd been scared she was going to be in trouble so they had only made it worse by informing the orphanage and she had been kept at school later than usual. Mabel had gone with it, hoping that it would soften her punishment. For three days she wouldn't be allowed out at recess and would have to stay with her teacher in the classroom. Mabel didn't mind. It could have been worse.

But now she was left with what to do about the note. After thinking it over, Mabel realized she'd overreacted. Maybe, in an attempt to bring Mabel up to her friends, Cassy had told them about her dream and it had just gotten around by accident. It wasn't fair of Mabel to think that Cassy had done something without talking with her any more than it was fair for Mrs. R to throw Mabel out of the classroom without listening to her.

With that in mind, Mabel was determined to find Cassy and clear everything up, but as she left the bathroom and prepped herself to talk with her friend, Mabel realized that everyone was gone. The game room was empty, the gym was deserted and no one was playing outside.

Just when she was starting to question if the apocalypse had occurred while she was in the bathroom she saw two kids run by and quickly followed them.

Everyone was in the cafeteria, but Mabel had no clue why. Looking around, all the children were there as well as most of the staff and several adults that she didn't recognize. There were even some people taking pictures and everyone was talking with one another, chattering happily. There was even a cake.

"And you came up with the idea all by yourself?"

Mabel turned and spotted a man with a notebook talking to Cassy, her friends all gathered around and smiling like he might take a picture any moment.

"Yeah. I mean, I liked what me and my friends made, but I wanted to do something different all on my own. I didn't really think it would get picked, so I'm super excited. I can hardly believe I even won," Cassy beamed brightly.

"Well, you should definitely be proud of yourself. You picture will look beautiful as the mural on the building. You're quite talented for you age," the man praised her.

"Thank you so much. That means a lot to me."

With that, the man left and no longer blocked Mabel's view of the piece of paper tacked up on the board behind him. Mabel's blood ran cold and before she knew it, her limbs had brought her to stand directly in front of it.

"C-Cassy?" Mabel turned to face the blond, white as a sheet.

"Oh. Hey." Cassy greeted her with a hint of annoyance.

"Th-That's… _your_ mural idea?" Mabel pointed to the picture.

"Duh. That's what everyone is here for," one of Cassy's friends spoke snidely.

A wave of nausea washed over the seven year old as Mabel realized that her picture had been chosen for the mural. But Cassy was the one to win.

On the board was the exact same picture that Mabel had drawn and shown Cassy. It wasn't exactly the same, but Cassy had clearly redrawn it herself, her signature on the bottom.

Mabel couldn't think. She could barely breathe and stuttered. "B-But I… that was my idea… my…" Mabel took a step back at the looks of disgust, shock and insult that were trained on her like a loaded gun. "I sa-id we sh-should make the sun b-blue."

"I didn't have anything else left when I was coloring it in." Cassy shrugged. Mabel blinked repeatedly, looking for some sign of the Cassy who she'd spent the entire week with during recess. This had to be some joke. It couldn't be true.

All she found was cold abhorrence.

"Just because you said _one thing_ doesn't mean the idea was yours." One of the girls gave Mabel an accusing look.

"And I _don't_ see your name on it."

"She's just jealous she didn't think of it."

Mabel took another step back, her shoulders shaking.

"Where you going? Gonna go meow yourself to sleep?" Cassy and her friends all laughed.

"You told them!?" Mabel looked at Cassy, the hurt and disbelief audible in her voice. "You told them that and-and about the unicorn dream?"

"What are you talking about?" Cassy cast Mabel an annoyed scowl and turned to her friends. "This is what I mean. While I was thinking on the mural idea and she kept coming up and talking to me all the time, telling me all this weird stuff. It took me twice as long just to…"

Mabel's mouth opened and closed as tears blurred her sight and her insides churned, making her want to wretch.

"Oh, god. She's crying now and we didn't even do anything," one of the girls groaned.

"See? This is why she doesn't have any friends," Cassy scoffed. "Serves her right for hitting me."

Mabel didn't see who she bumped into, but she really didn't care as she ran out of the cafeteria, bolting for the solitude of the bathroom. She might have heard her name, but it could have been her imagination. She could hardly perceive anything past the raw emotion pounding into her head from all sides.

She at least had enough sense to lock the door before curling up into a ball on the floor and pulling her head into her sweater. But Sweater Town couldn't even help her. Tears streamed down her face and she choked on air, gagging in between her silent sobs. Eventually, she realized what she needed and pulled her sweater back down before diving for the toilet and puking harshly. Only after retching two more times did her stomach seem to settle even a little and she let her tears fall freely. Crying, shaking and wiping her mouth off to try not to feel quite as pathetic, she realized she could hear someone pounding on the door.

"Go away!" Mabel shouted with a sob, her voice breaking as she sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall, covering her eyes that wept ceaselessly. She was so stupid. She was so pathetic.

"Mabel! It's me!" Dipper's voice came through when the pounding stopped. "Open the door! What happened!?"

"I SAID _GO AWAY_!" Mabel shrieked at the top of her lungs, crying even harder. Not even Dipper. As she was, Mabel couldn't even face her own brother.

When she didn't get a response, Mabel was almost relieved and thought that he had left her alone. However, then she heard a rattling and in less than a minute Dipper threw the door open, rushing to her side. He glanced at the toilet then Mabel in horror and concern.

"Mabel, why are you crying?" Dipper opened his arms to hold her, but she simply pressed her hands on his chest and shoved him away roughly.

"I said go!" Mabel wailed, feeling even weaker without the door separating them. She then curled up and pulled her shirt over her head, sniffling and breathing shakily as she wept and moaned.

Suddenly, she felt Dipper pulling at her shirt and she struggled to keep it over her. "Stop. Stop. Stop!" Mabel protested at first before she finally lost the battle and her protective sweater was pulled away, thrown into the corner far out of her reach. "You're stupid. Stupid!" Mabel screamed at him venomously, glaring blindly at him behind her tears. "I hate you, Dipper! I HATE YOU! Why won't you leave me alone-!?"

Mabel couldn't breathe again, but this time it was because Dipper had crushed her lungs, nearly suffocating her in a tight hug.

"I'm not going and you can't make me," Dipper snapped at her angrily, but the anger wasn't directed at her. "Tell me or don't, but I'm not leaving you like this by yourself."

He was holding her so tense that he was quivering and Mabel couldn't push him away anymore. Coughing and hiccupping, Mabel cried into her twin, holding him back just as tightly.

Her mind was numb and her body felt like lead, yet at the same time Mabel felt like Dipper could break her in two if he wasn't careful. She was too tired and weak to do anything but break down against her brother.

She didn't remember when she stopped crying, when Dipper had led her back to their room or when she'd fallen asleep. Even the next day when Dipper had explained to the caretakers that Mabel wasn't feeling well and had stayed with her the whole day, it was mostly a blur. What she did remember was clinging to him and not saying a word the whole time and he hadn't pressed to her either. All he'd asked was that she eat even if she had done very little of it.

There was one more thing too. Hadn't she locked the bathroom door?

…

She'd waited until he was asleep. It was easy since he had probably stayed awake the whole night and day to make sure he'd be there and conscious if she woke up. She'd probably also worried him so much that he hadn't been able to sleep, wondering why she had been so upset. She still hadn't told him. She couldn't. Not yet, she told herself.

Mabel was exhausted. Not physically but emotionally. And being so, it was probably best that she confront Cassy when she could feel so little. Anything the girl said or did would easily just bounce right off of Mabel and Mabel could make her peace with the older girl one way or another, taking advantage of her temporary insensitive state. It was unlikely that the blonde girl could do anything worse to Mabel than what was already done.

But after turning the place upside down, Mabel was at a loss.

"Where… where's Cassy?" She finally asked one of the caretakers. She was an older woman, but new to their orphanage and didn't seem as adverse towards Mabel and Dipper since she hadn't been around when they had first arrived.

"Cassy…? Oh, is she that girl whose picture is going to be made into that new mural?"

Mabel gave a terse nod.

"Right. You don't know?" The woman raised a brow at Mabel. Mabel waited for a response.

"Then here's the good news." She smiled. "Cassy got adopted this morning."

"What?" Mabel's eyes widened.

"Yes. It seems that a nice German couple saw her mural idea and wanted to meet them for herself. The event last night was open to the public which is why adopting couples and some news people were there." The woman explained, beaming excitedly. "I heard that that couple had been on the fence for quite some time about who to adopt, but things went so well with Cassy that they made up their minds last night." The woman wiped her eyes with joy.

"You should've seen them leaving. Excuse me for getting emotional. I used to work at another branch, but I've never seen an adoption like this. It was a perfect match, like a true family finally come together. A fairytale come true," she explained brightly.

"I… I didn't know that." Mabel looked down with glazed eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was she your friend?" The woman frowned sympathetically. When Mabel gave no response, she added. "Don't be sad, sweetie. She's going to a clearly loving home. She'll be happy there and get everything she deserves."

Mabel highly doubted that.

…

Dipper had jerked awake suddenly, as if he'd subconsciously sensed something wrong. He immediately knew why when he saw that the bed he laid in was one person empty.

He stumbled to his feet, unstable from getting up so suddenly and ran down the hallways, looking for Mabel. It didn't take him long to find her in the game room. He would've sighed in relief if he weren't trying to get as much air as possible into his panting body.

"M-Mabel?" he called to her, wiping some sweat from his head.

"Dipper." Mable turned a bit, but didn't face him. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Sorry, I left. I didn't want to wake you."

"How long have you been here?" Even though she appeared fine, Dipper didn't the like idea that his sister had been without him for an extended period of time given how he'd found her the last time.

"Uh… I dunno. A while." She tilted her head down, expression concealed by her long brunette hair. "It's really pretty here in the morning," she said, noting the dim sunlight coming in from the windows.

"Uh, yeah." Dipper agreed, approaching her. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw red on her hand, a dart in her grasp. "M-Mabel. Your hand," he muttered fearfully, paling at the sight.

"Oh." She pulled her hand up to look at it and Dipper tensed. "Whoops. I was drawing earlier."

Dipper frowned in confusion and only then noticed some pieces of paper on the table. He picked one up and frowned at what he saw, but she had indeed used a red sharpie to write it. Glancing at the table, he noted that they were all the same as the one he held.

"Anyway, watch this." Dipper snapped his head up.

With a steady flick of her wrist, Mabel threw the dart and it landed in the red center of the dartboard board. "Bull's-eye." She laughed softly and turned to face Dipper. "You were right. Practice _does_ make perfect." Then again, it seemed that rather than practice, Mabel just needed to make enough mistakes.

With the early hour, the sun was hardly peeking above the horizon, but still gave a soft glow that filtered in through the windows. Mabel's bright smile, while bathed in that light, cast just the slightest amount of shadows on her features. It was almost enough to conceal the smallest strain in her expression. Almost.

Dipper clenched his fists and lowered his head under his hat. In a few quick strides he was holding Mabel, hugging her just like he had when he'd found her in the bathroom. But Mabel didn't mind. It would be easier to prevent sobs from breaking through her lips if it was hard to breathe. Thankfully, the precaution wasn't needed.

"I know, Mabel. I know." He'd known it in the last moment that his mother had twisted her head to look back at him and tell him that she loved them both.

Mabel didn't cry. It wasn't that she couldn't cry anymore. She was just empty now. The void inside her sucked everything in as if nothing had existed there in the first place.

With one last fleeting thought, Mabel's eyes fluttered shut in her brother's embrace and she finally let the only peace she had left called sleep take her.

 _"It was a perfect match, like a true family finally come together. A fairytale come true."_

 _"I can hardly believe I even won."_

 _Cheater._

* * *

Author's Note: I have no clue how orphanages or systems and such work. I'm just going with what made enough sense to me so forgive me if the whole mural thing or other parts of the set up of the story were hard to believe. I'm just a trashy fanfiction writer.


End file.
